Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday said its first six-core processor for desktops will ship in the second quarter of this year. Rival Intel is also having its 'Gulftown' 6-core CPUs for enthusiasts ready for launch.

The processor will be called Phenom II X6. AMD did not disclose many datails about the new CPUs, although a working unit of the chip was installed in a desktop at the Cebit trade show in Hanover, Germany.

According to unofficial information, AMD plans to release five six-core desktop products this year, as part of its Thuban family of CPUs. These inlcude the 125W Phenom II X6 1075T (6x521 L2, 6MB L3, 125W), two versions of the Phenom II X6 1055T with 125W and 95W TDPs (6x512 L2, 6MB L3) and the the Phenom II X6 1035T (6x512 L2, 6MB L3, 95W). AMD is also planning to release the quad-core Phenom II X4 960T (4x512 L2, 6MB L3, 95W) sometime in Q2, which is dubbed 'Zosma.' Although specific frequencies foe these chips has not been unveiled, they are expected to top at the 2.8GHz.

The new chips will most probably be manufactures using thw 45nm process.

AMD already offers six-core Opteron chips for servers.

AMD's rival Intel is also expected to release its first six-core chip for desktops this year. These are the Core i7-980X Extreme Edition (3.33GHz, Intel Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading, 12MB L3) and the Core i7-970 (3.20GHz, dynamic acceleration, Hyper-Threading, availability Q3 2010). Both 'Gulftown' chips will be manufactured using the 32-nm process and they will be compatible with Intel's existing X58 motherboards (socket LGA1366) with a BIOS upgrade.

The specifications of the upcoming 6-core Intel Core i7-980 Extreme Edition processor were 'leaked'online last month at an Audtrian e-tailer's web site.

Intel is also expected to release its six-core 32nm "Westmere" processors for server segments in June. As the company disclosed last month at the International Solid State Circuits Conference, the new 32nm Westmere chips will offer increased core count, cache size, and frequency within same power envelope as the previous generation with further improvements in power efficiency, a set of new features, and support for low-voltage DDR3. Intel's six-core Westmere packs 1.17 billion transistors, uses a 12 MByte shared L3 cache and supports low-voltage DDR3 memory.